North Koreans would probably be roughly South Korean height today , not dramatically taller. The best-supported estimate is that, if North Korea had followed the same 20th-century nutrition and living-standard gains seen in the South, average adult height would likely have risen into the mid-170 cm range for men and around the low-160 cm range for women.

Why that estimate makes sense

Height is strongly tied to childhood nutrition, disease burden, and overall living conditions, and North Korea’s population did not experience the same stature gains in the second half of the 20th century that South Koreans did. A review of Korean height trends found a sharp rise in stature in Korea during the early 20th century, while North Korean heights later diverged from the South as living conditions worsened.

Rough range

  • North Korean men: about 173–176 cm on average if they had tracked the South’s rise.
  • North Korean women: about 160–163 cm on average under a similar scenario.
    These are approximate, because the exact number depends on how closely one assumes North Korea would have matched South Korea’s nutrition, healthcare, and economic growth.

Important caveat

This is not saying every North Korean would become taller by the same amount. Genetics set a ceiling, but population height can still change a lot when childhood conditions improve, and South Korea is the clearest regional example of that pattern. In other words, the most realistic answer is “about South Korean height ,” not “all men would be 180 cm tall.”

TL;DR

If North Korea had kept up with the 20th-century rise in standards, its average adult height would likely be close to South Korea’s today : around 175 cm for men and 161 cm for women.